Page 4219 - Week 11 - Thursday, 17 Sept 2009
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I have a range of other examples, and it is a matter of which I select. I have touched on corrections issues, and it is appropriate that I, as the shadow health minister, talk about the Canberra Hospital car park. We have a sad, sad tale from this government. The latest fiasco was the car park, which was meant to cost $29 million but which will now cost $45 million. This was called in because it was going to be frivolous and politically motivated, according Mr Barr. When you actually listen to the community concerns, particularly those from the mental health community, about the way that the car park was going to overshadow the psychiatric adult inpatient unit, you can actually see that it was not because it was frivolous and political; it was actually because this government was so embarrassed about its mismanagement.
I have a whole range of other examples—$57 million in overruns, in actual fact, this year in the health department alone. I would love to go on, but, unfortunately my time has run out. (Time expired.)
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (4.18): I rise on behalf of Ms Gallagher, the Deputy Chief Minister, to respond. I thank the member for raising this matter of significant importance to the community. There is no doubt that effective management and oversight is important in the delivery of capital projects within scope, time and cost. This certainly includes appropriate financial management of capital works projects.
We have rigorous and established processes in place for the management of budget-funded capital works projects from initiation to implementation. No project is exempt from these processes. The capital works development process is an important mechanism to assist the decision making of the government in the allocation of financial resources to meet emerging demands for new and changed service delivery infrastructure and to maintain the territory’s existing asset base. From planning and business case development through to mandatory procurement and project management practices, these robust processes have proved essential in the management and delivery of our capital works program.
For the budget-funded program, no project gets off the ground without being subjected to a string of processes to justify and ensure the proposals are based on a sound and valid assessment of need, available options and accurate costings. Business cases define project scope, options analysis, cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, contingencies and whole-of-life costings. These are analysed and thoroughly tested.
However, we acknowledge that, despite rigorous planning and assessment processes, some capital projects will, by their nature, carry timing and cost risks. Planning issues, market conditions, the scarcity of labour and materials and unforeseen physical circumstances can impact on costs and delivery. No reasonable amount of pre-planning can completely remove such risks.
The government addresses these issues, as far as practicable, initially. However, it is not uncommon, as the project progresses, for issues to arise at various stages of delivery. These can and do lead to delays in the planned delivery schedule and
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